The current (25th) Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard (sitting, fifth from left), with his Cabinet, 1999

The office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. He or she is appointed by the Governor-General but, by convention, is the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Representatives. The Prime Minister's official residence is the Lodge in Canberra. Since 1996 the office-holder has been John Howard of the Liberal Party

Appointment

By convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the party or coalition which can command a plurality of seats in the lower house of the Federal Parliament, the House of Representatives. In times of constitutional crisis, however, this convention can be broken if necessary; this has occurred twice. At the time of Federation, no parliament had yet been established, so Edmund Barton was temporarily appointed as Prime Minister until elections were held. More controversially, during the 1975 constitutional crisis, Malcolm Fraser was appointed to replace Gough Whitlam. The Governor-General also appoints the remaining members of the Cabinet and, theoretically can dismiss the Prime Minister or any other minister at any time, but his or her power to do so is heavily circumscribed by convention.

Powers

The formal holder of executive power in the Commonwealth is the Governor_General. However, by convention the Governor_General can only act on the Prime Minister's advice. The Prime Minister chairs the Cabinet, a council of ministers where executive decision_making occurs. Like the Prime Minister, the Cabinet is nowhere explicitly provided for in the Australian constitution. The intention nonetheless was for it always to exist, again following the Westminster model.

The power of the Prime Minister is subject to a number of limitations. A Prime Minister may be removed as leader of his party and thus lose the support of the lower house. If this occurs, he must resign the office or be dismissed by the Governor-General. The Prime Minister must receive the support of both houses of Parliament to pass any legislation (though secondary legislation, called Regulations, can be made by ministerial decree). While the Prime Minister normally will have a majority in the House of Representatives, attaining the support of the Senate can be more difficult, since there the Government will often be in a minority.

So, while the Prime Minister's formal powers are minimal, his practical powers as chief spokesperson for the government and leader of the strongest party in parliament in the relatively rigid Australian party system are very considerable.

History

The first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton (sitting second from left), with his Cabinet, 1901

The office of Prime Minister is nowhere mentioned in the Australian constitution, although it does provide for the Governor-General to be advised by ministers. However, since the framers of the Australian constitution from the beginning intended it to largely follow the Westminster system, the office of Prime Minister has existed since the inauguration of the commonwealth.

List of Prime Ministers

Main article: List of Prime Ministers of Australia by important facts

The political parties shown are those to which the Prime Ministers belonged at the time they held office. Several Prime Ministers belonged during their life times to parties other than those of which they were members while occupying the office of Prime Minister.

External links

• Australia's Prime Ministers (http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/) / National Archive of Australia
• Biographies of Australia's Prime Ministers (http://www.nma.gov.au/primeministers/contents.htm) / National Museum of Australia
• Official website of the Prime Minister of Australia (http://www.pm.gov.au/)